Raphael Wong Ho-ming (; 24 October 1988), also known by his nickname "Village Head", is a

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

social activist and politician. He is formerly the chairman of the

League of Social Democrats The League of Social Democrats (LSD) is a social democratic party in Hong Kong. Chaired by Chan Po-ying, wife of Leung Kwok-hung, it positions itself as the radical wing of the pro-democracy camp and stresses on "street actions" and "parlia ...

(LSD) and was one of the leaders in the

2014 Hong Kong protests A series of sit-in street protests, often called the Umbrella Revolution and sometimes used interchangeably with Umbrella Movement, or Occupy Movement, occurred in Hong Kong from 26 September to 15 December 2014. The protests began after th ...

Early life

In 1988, Wong was born in

. Wong's father is Wong Yu-choi, a

pro-Beijing The pro-Beijing camp, pro-establishment camp or pro-China camp is a political alignment in Hong Kong which generally supports the policies of the Beijing central government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) towards Hong Kong. The term " ...

rural politician, a member of the

Civil Force Civil Force () is a pro-Beijing, district-based political party in Hong Kong. Since 2014, the Civil Force has entered an alliance with the New People's Party of Regina Ip. Headed by chairman Pun Kwok-shan, it has its stronghold in the Sha Tin ...

and holding the position of member of the Sha Tin Rural Committee and resident representative of the Ha Wo Che village in

Sha Tin Sha Tin, also spelt Shatin, is a neighbourhood along Shing Mun River in the eastern New Territories, Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the Sha Tin District. Sha Tin is one of the neighbourhoods of the Sha Tin New Town project. The new ...

Education

Wong attended the Shatin Pui Ying College. Wong earned a bachelor's degree in social science from the

Hong Kong Polytechnic University The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU or HKPU) is a public research university in Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The university is one of the eight government-funded degree-granting tertiary institutions in Hong Kong. Founded in 1937 a ...

. Wong earned a master's degree in social policy from

Chinese University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public university, public research university in Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong. Established in 1963 as a federation of three university college, collegesChung Chi College, New Asia Coll ...

Career

Protests

Wong became interested in politics in the 2008 Legislative Council election, when

pro-democracy Democratization, or democratisation, is the structural government transition from an authoritarian government to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. Whether and to what ...

(LSD) chairman

Wong Yuk-man Raymond Wong Yuk-man (; born 1 October 1951) is a Hong Kong author, current affairs commentator and radio host. He is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo), representing the geographical constituency of Kowloon West. ...

chanted " DAB the most shameless" in an election forum. He started listening to Wong's internet radio and joined the LSD despite his father's opposition. He participated in the 1 July demonstration in 2009 for the first time. In the 2010 July 1 demonstration, he joined the sit-in at the

Central Government Offices The Central Government Complex has been the headquarters of the Government of Hong Kong since 2011. Located at the Tamar site, the complex comprises the Central Government Offices, the Legislative Council Complex and the Office of the Chi ...

after the demonstration. On 1 July 2011, he was one of the protesters blocked the

Connaught Road Central Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

. On 1 March 2011, Wong and another protester Wong Chun-kit protested against

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Donald Tsang Sir Donald Tsang Yam-kuen (; born 7 October 1944) is a former Hong Kong civil servant who served as the second Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2005 to 2012. Tsang joined the colonial civil service as an Executive Officer in 1967, occupyi ...

when Tsang was on his way to the

Hong Kong Museum of History The Hong Kong Museum of History is a public museum that preserves Hong Kong's historical and cultural heritage. It is located next to the Hong Kong Science Museum, in Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The collections of the museum enc ...

Tsim Sha Tsui Tsim Sha Tsui ( zh, c=尖沙咀), often abbreviated as TST, is an list of areas of Hong Kong, area in southern Kowloon, Hong Kong. The area is administratively part of the Yau Tsim Mong District. Tsim Sha Tsui East is a piece of land reclaimed ...

. Wong held a box of rice with fish in corn sauce and ran towards Tsang. They were charged with hitting Tsang but later found innocent by the court. On 29 June 2012 during Chinese President

Hu Jintao Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a Chinese retired politician who served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, the president of China from 2003 to 2013, and chairman of the Central Military Comm ...

's visit in Hong Kong, five LSD members including Wong protested at the

North Lantau Highway North Lantau Highway is an expressway forming part of Hong Kong's Route 8, linking Hong Kong International Airport and Lantau Island with the rest of the territory. The road has three lanes in each direction for its entire length with fu ...

where Hu's car passed by. They climbed over a metal fence, scrambling onto a slope to hold up two banners reading: "Vindication of the June 4th crackdown"; and "Give me back iWangyang". They were later charged and fined for improper use of an expressway. In 2014, Wong became the vice-chairman of the LSD. On 11 June 2014, Wong was charged along with

Scholarism Scholarism was a Hong Kong pro-democracy camp, pro-democracyWilfred Chan and Yuli Yang, CNN]Echoing Tiananmen, 17-year-old Hong Kong student prepares for democracy battle 28 September 2014 student activist group active in the fields of Hong ...

convenor Joshua Wong Chi-fung, Joshua Wong, former secretary general of

Hong Kong Federation of Students The Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS, or 學聯) is a student organisation founded in May 1958 by the student unions of four higher education institutions in Hong Kong. The inaugural committee had seven members representing the four sc ...

Nathan Law Nathan Law Kwun-chung ( zh, link=no, t=羅冠聰; born 13 July 1993) is a Hong Kong activist and politician. As a student leader, he was chairman of the Representative Council of the Lingnan University Students' Union (LUSU), acting preside ...

and

People Power "People power" is a political slogan denoting the Populism, populist driving force of any social movement which invokes the authority of grassroots opinion and Will (philosophy), willpower, usually in opposition to that of conventionally organis ...

legislator

Albert Chan Albert Chan Wai-yip (born 3 March 1955, Hong Kong), also known by his nickname "Big Piece", is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong representing the New Territories West constituency. He has served as a legislator from 199 ...

for obstructing police officers when they burnt replicas of Beijing's white paper interpreting Hong Kong's

one country, two systems "One country, two systems" is a constitutional principle of the People's Republic of China (PRC) describing the governance of the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. Deng Xiaoping developed the one country, two systems ...

principle during a protest outside the Liaison Office. They were later found not guilty. As a veteran activist, Wong was one of the leaders during the

, which was often called the "Umbrella Revolution". He was deeply involved in the movement and was later arrested with Joshua Wong, the main leader of the protests and Chinese University's Student Union member Jason Szeto Tze-long on 25 November during the police clearance of the Mong Kok sit-in site. On 18 April 2020, Wong was arrested as one of 15 Hong Kong high-profile democracy figures, on suspicion of organizing, publicizing or taking part in several unauthorized assemblies between August and October 2019 in the course of the anti-extradition bill protests. Following protocol, the police statement did not disclose the names of the accused. On 25 July 2021, Wong was replaced by

Leung Kwok-hung Leung Kwok-hung ( zh, t=梁國雄; born 27 March 1956), also known by his nickname "Long Hair" (), is a Hong Kong politician and social activist. He was a member of the Legislative Council, representing the New Territories East. A Trotskyist ...

wife, Chan Po-ying, as the chairperson of LSD.

Election

In 2011 and 2015, Wong ran in the District Council elections in his neighborhood Lek Yuen but was both defeated. In the 2016 Legislative Council election, he will run in the

New Territories West New Territories West (NTW) is the western part of Hong Kong's New Territories, covering Yuen Long District, Yuen Long, Tuen Mun District, Tuen Mun, Tsuen Wan District, Tsuen Wan, Kwai Tsing District, Kwai Tsing and the Islands District. History ...

with incumbent legislator Albert Chan of the People Power standing in the second place of his ticket.

References

External links

Raphael Wong at reuters.com (January 2018)

Raphael Wong Appeal (March 2018)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wong, Raphael 1988 births Living people Alumni of the Chinese University of Hong Kong Alumni of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong democracy activists League of Social Democrats politicians Political prisoners held by Hong Kong